


Infinite Sky - Prologue Two: Three Ducklings All In A Row

by Nalanzu



Series: World of Infinite Sky [2]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Explicit Language, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-10
Updated: 2013-01-10
Packaged: 2017-11-24 23:50:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,418
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/632866
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nalanzu/pseuds/Nalanzu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Attempting to assassinate the Mizukage to protest how weak the village has become was probably not a good idea, particularly considering that the actual leader of the village also controls the vast majority of the known world. Momochi Zabuza flees from the Village of Hidden Mist and picks up a stray or two along the way.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Infinite Sky - Prologue Two: Three Ducklings All In A Row

_A.I. (After Invasion) Year Five, late September_

No sane person would willingly go to the former Hidden Village of the Whirling Tides. Tobi had cursed it when he’d razed the Whirlpool Country to ash and scorched stone for no reason other than that they’d produced the last Sacrifice for the Nine Tails.

That curse was exactly why Zabuza was heading there now, albeit not directly. As a now-former member of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, Zabuza had remarkable skill at his disposal. It was just that it wasn’t quite enough to take on the dictator of the known world and his considerable armies after Zabuza’s brilliant exit strategy had gone awry.

In retrospect, trying to assassinate the Mizukage probably hadn’t been Zabuza’s most well-thought-out plan. It had seemed like a good idea at the time – the Mizukage, after all, was nothing but a puppet, and Zabuza wasn’t about to be ordered around by someone who didn’t even make his own decisions.  What Zabuza hadn’t known was that the Mizukage was a literal puppet – one animated by threads of chakra – rather than a figurative one.  He hadn’t been able to resist using his new weapon, though, even though that new weapon was in the form of a prepubescent child and its bloodline limit had yet to fully manifest.

Haku hadn’t disappointed, with his bloodline limit; it wasn’t his fault that the Mizukage was a living doll instead of a human being. Haku’s skill was why Zabuza was running now instead of staying in the Village of Hidden Mist to go out in a blaze of blood-soaked glory to demonstrate just what the Mist had lost by allying itself to Tobi in the war five years and more ago. Haku had shown enough potential that Zabuza was fairly sure he could actually train him well enough to wreak some major damage.

The main problem facing them at the moment was how to actually reach the empty and cursed Village of the Whirling Tides. Boats were too easy to find on the open sea, and Haku wasn’t old enough to maintain the chakra concentration necessary for walking on water over long distances. Not that they would be any less conspicuous, and besides, Kimimaro was even younger than Haku.  The solution was to go over land, through Star Country and Fire Country, and finally into the former Whirlpool country.

Zabuza glanced over at the two of them, curled around each other like a pair of puppies.  Haku’s dark hair tangled with Kimimaro’s white; it was going to be a bitch to untangle in the morning, and Zabuza again considered just taking a sharp knife and giving both boys proper haircuts.

“How the fuck did you even happen,” he said quietly, all senses extended to make sure they weren’t attracting undue attention.  Of course, he knew exactly how he’d collected Kimimaro; Haku had found the boy, the last remnant of a clan that had suicidally tried to take on Tobi and died to a man in the effort. Well, almost to a man; Kimimaro, the only clan member too young to fight, had been left behind. When no one had come for him, he’d started wandering.

By the time Haku had found the kid, he’d been half-dead and nearly frozen.  Haku had literally stumbled across him as they’d made their way ashore at the very edge of Star Country. When Zabuza had made as if to just keep going, Haku had hoisted the kid – almost as big as he was; Haku was _tiny_ – on his shoulders and trudged onward.

“Put that down,” Zabuza had said.

“He deserves the same chance I had,” Haku had said stubbornly, although he clearly hadn’t had the chakra control necessary to augment his strength enough to actually carry the boy for any distance.

“For fuck’s sake, Haku,” Zabuza had said. “You know perfectly well you’re here because of your bloodline limit.”

“He could be useful,” Haku had replied, stubbornly.  Oh yes, he was going to be a brilliant tool, if Zabuza could manage to properly direct that sharp little will.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake. Give him here.”  Haku was still soft enough at heart that a display of compassion would bind him even more thoroughly, Zabuza had reasoned. Besides, he had been able to see that the kid was feverish; his assessment had been that he probably wouldn’t last the night.

The odd white-haired kid, who’d eventually given his name as Kimimaro, had not died during the first night. Or the second, or the third, although his inability to travel meant that the small group had stayed holed up for the better part of a week while he recovered. 

“Maybe his special ninja skill is luck,” Haku had said on the fourth day, when yet another Mist search party missed them entirely.  It was the last search party they had seen; apparently going to ground had thrown their pursuers off the trail.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Zabuza had retorted, watching the pair of them. Kimimaro had been asleep, fever broken and strength returning, and Haku had curled around him for the first of many times. “There’s no such bloodline limit.”

Several weeks into their journey now, Zabuza thought he might reconsider the luck thing. Kimimaro had turned out to have a bloodline limit after all, albeit a rather creepy one; he generated and extruded weapons made of his own bones. With the right training, he and Haku would do very well for Zabuza.

Zabuza retracted his reconsideration the very next morning, when Haku showed up with yet another stray. To be precise, he’d led Zabuza and Kimimaro to said stray – a small orange-haired boy, even tinier than Kimimaro, crying in the midst of a rather impressive swath of destruction.

“This is Juugo,” said Haku almost proudly.  “He did this.”

“What,” said Zabuza. It wasn’t a question.  The kid couldn’t be more than seven, maybe eight. For him to have destroyed what looked like an entire village – an incredibly small village, to be fair, but still, an entire village – at his age demonstrated that he too had incredible potential. If he responded with the same type of loyalty that Haku and Kimimaro had, Zabuza would have the makings of quite the little strike team. Suddenly his plans for eliminating the current leadership that had weakened Mist so much seemed much more feasible.

“He got angry,” Haku said, and there was something possessive in his voice. That was it; Zabuza was never sending him out on his own again.  Both times he’d let Haku out of his sight for more than five minutes, the kid had come back with yet another tiny child.  Three was clearly enough.

It took Zabuza a moment to realize that somehow, in the middle of his mental tirade, he’d accepted that the new kid was coming with them.  “How the fuck does this even happen, and he has to keep up on his own,” he said, glaring at Haku. “He falls behind, he gets left behind.”

Juugo didn’t fall behind; he clung to Haku’s hand with determination written all over his childish face.  Zabuza found himself adjusting the group’s pace again, without saying a word, and including Juugo in the evening hand-to-hand combat lessons.  At some point, he’d started giving evening hand-to-hand combat lessons, and he had no idea when.

“Practice controlling your bloodline limits will come later,” he said yet again.  None of them were quite old enough to manifest their bloodline limits anyway. Rather, none of them were quite skilled enough. From what Zabuza understood on the subject, it came with practice and chakra control. He didn’t want them exhausting themselves, though, and chakra use was particularly difficult for children. Hand-to-hand combat practice it was.

“Juugo, foot higher, and turn your toes down.  That’s better.  All of you, once more from the top.”  He ran them through the exercise one last time. “Okay, that’s enough. Tomorrow you’ll practice against each other – no contact.”

“Yes, Zabuza,” they all chorused.

“Go get as clean as you can before we eat. Haku, you’re in charge.”

“I understand.”  Haku smiled, looking happier than Zabuza had ever seen him. “Come on, guys.”

“Fuck,” Zabuza exhaled, guarding the fire so that it wouldn’t be visible from farther off than a few feet.  “How the hell did I end up with a troop of little ninja ducklings, anyway.” They were his, though, and he wasn’t going to let anyone else take them away.

\+ _to be continued in Infinite Sky_ +


End file.
